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REBOOTING CALIFORNIA:

INITIATIVES, CONVENTIONS & GOVERNMENT REFORM

SYMPOSIUM PANELS FOR SEPT. 24, 2010

1. Fiscal and Budgetary Problems / Reforms (9:00-10:30am)

• Super-majority (2/3) requirement for budget approval
• Structural tax & expenditure constraints (e.g., Props. 13, 98)
• Federal and state mandates on local government
• Education funding
• Long-term budgeting
• Pay-as-you-go
• Restoring local control over budgets and revenue

2. Electoral & Structural Reforms (10:45-12:15pm)

• Inexperience, polarization and corruption
• Redistricting of state & congressional districts
• Open primaries
• Campaign finance
• Legislative and executive officer term limits
• Structural changes to the state legislature

3. What are the Viable Mechanisms for Constitutional Reform? (1:45-3:15pm)

• A constitutional revision commission as we had in 1964-72 and 1994-96.
• Voter- or legislature-sponsored constitutional amendments or revisions.
• Legislature-sponsored constitutional convention
• o Article XVIII, §2 requires 2/3 vote of each house, followed by voter approval
• A voter-sponsored constitutional convention?
• o Measures by Repair California and California Action Network to call a constitutional convention were proposed for the November ballot, but are now unlikely.
• o Is a convention foreclosed, as a practical matter, by structural limitations in the state constitution and by entrenched political opposition?

4. The Future of Direct Democracy – Reforming the Initiative Process (3:30-5:00pm)

• As envisioned by Hiram Johnson and other reformers in 1911, direct democracy (initiative, referendum, recall) would break the grip of special interests. A century later, has the initiative fulfilled its promise, or itself become a tool of special interests?
• Has government by initiative led to unintended consequences (e.g., budget constraints)?
• o How should the initiative process be restructured so as to preserve salient elements of direct democracy without undermining the benefits of republican government?
• o Should the distinction between constitutional revision and amendment be rethought? Strengthened? Eliminated?
• Legislative solutions (non-constitutional means) for reforming the initiative process.
• Electronic signature gathering for initiatives.